Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-10-28

George and Martha Washington, sitting
during summer afternoons on the banks
of their Arlington estate, had viewed with
enthusiastic gaze the quagmire and mud
hole across the Potomac where now stands
the city that bears their name and had
concluded that, with the proper applica-
ton of sewers and taXes-the twin drain
age which constitutes civiliZation-a hand
some town might be built.
But there was heap of trouble. New
England threatened to secede if a Federal
seat as far South as Washington were
chosen and Virginia threatened to secede
if the Northern proposition should prevail
to have the Federal Government assume
the debts of the several States in the war.
So jefferson and Hamilton got together
and patched up compromise by which
the South got the capital established in the
quagmre on the bank of the Potomac,
and the North got in exchange for the
concession $4,000, 600, Sorely needed. Then
George and Martha went out on the bank
again and smiled across upon the tranquil
swamp.
THE SAUCY SCOTCHMAN.
There were nineteen proprietors of the
land when the capital was removed here,
and the house where dwelt one of them,
a cruSty old ScOtchman named David
Burns, is still standing on the bank of the
Potomac, nerr the Washington monu-
ment. | send picture of it.
1t is good deal the worse for the wear
and tear of weather, and is an excelle Mt
type of the queer plantation building of a
hundred years ago. Burns was the last
Ole to yield to the public requirements,
and is reported to have said to the father
of his country" fifteen years after the
Revolution "Meester Washington, | tell
We to yer face that if ye hadna welded the
rich widow Curtis, We wadna amount to
a hill o. beans :" What George Washing
ton did and said in reply is not recorded.
THE ORIGINAL LAY OUT.
The total of the city, as originally sur
veyed, was 7,l6l acres, which was divided
as follows by the Commissioners appoint
ed by Washington:
4 ores.
Taken for streets. &c. 90. .......... 1914
1915 lots taken by ... ,5ja
1858
l0,l36 lots reconyeyed to original propr-
etors in payment for the whole ....... 1,5OS
T,l6l
The streets and avenues range from 90
to $50 feet in width and the sidewalks are
generally 20 feet wide. The numbered
streets run exactly north and south, the
lettered streets exactly east and west, and
the avenues, named after the States, di-
verge from certain important centres liz e
the spokes of a wheel.
Inc streets and ayeLueS occupy more
than half of the entire space Of the city.
There is nothing like it in the world II
compares with other great cities thus:
Boston, street area ................ 26 per cent
London, street area .........,.,... II per cent
Berlin, street area...................2 20 per cent
Philadelphia, street area. 90. ....... 20 per cent
Chicago, street area. 81 per cent
Vienna, street area. .......... .... IS per cent
New York, street area .............. 81 per cent
Paris, street area. ........ ..... % per ct nj
washington, street area 81 Der cent
Before the war Washington was, as
John Randolph called 1T. "a great Ser
bonian bog" and men still living have
shot ducks and snipe in the swamp where
now stands the National Hotel-the very
centre of the town,
BOSS SHEPHERDS REIGN
Even Shepherds worst enemies-ant
there are thousands of earnest men her,
who denounce and ridicule the 'recep
tion"-do not deny that much goot
sprang from his method. Their objec
ton is that much evil resulted too
which might have been prevented
Washington was made the most attract
tive city in the world, but debt of s25,
10000 was created, corruption followed
by opulence prevailed, and many poo
residents were ruined. Grades wer
changed without compensation. Streets
were filled up till they ran as high as the
tops of the chimneys, while in neighboI
ing blocks cuts were made so deep tha
the value of lots was entirely destroyed